MAORI RELICS
DISCOVERIES AT WHAKATANE. PADDLE AND GREENSTONE. Recent excavations for the foundations of the new Whakatane Hotel on the Strand have brought to light several interesting Maori relics, including a finely-carved canoe paddle and several small pieces of greenstone.
Workmen uncovered a fairly complete human skeleton.
Such discoveries are very common for many ancient pa sites crown the bluffs at the back of the hotel and after hundreds of years of Maori occupation the ground is rich in human remains, which are disturbed by every trench driven for foundations. Building operations some time ago uncovered a number of skulls and pounding stones made from a particular kind of rock from Whale Island. The skulls probably came from a sacred grove of karaka trees at the foot of the nearby Pohaturoa Rock, where they once hung as crop and fishing talismans.
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/WAITA19380402.2.46
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Wairarapa Times-Age, 2 April 1938, Page 5
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141MAORI RELICS Wairarapa Times-Age, 2 April 1938, Page 5
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